Conker SVT
by Beta Galaxy
Summary: Silence hit the town as it burned into a pile of ash and soot. Tez looked out into the horizon as 200 years of peace became a mere figment of his imagination. Follow one Tedi and his friends through a journey of survival as the world around them falls apart.
1. Ch 1 Confusion

**-CHAPTER 1 : Confusion-**

Nearly 200 years have passed since the last eternal war. The war that had seemed to rage onward had finally ceased. For nearly 200 years, there was a peace between the S.H.C. and Tediz forces, and the home worlds, once broken from years of war, had been rebuilt to their former glory. But then, something new happened, and in a split second the peace that had existed for so long ran back in shambles, and during this time, one Tedi was among the chaos.

This is his story.

A loud clang was heard in the background as several glasses of ale clacked together. Cheers came from the table in the back as the drinks were brought to it. The room was buzzing with laughter and conversation. Tezeriah sighed. He was sitting at the bar, on a wooden stool. He was what the Tediz military would train as a Sky Jockey, mid height and weight. On him were two straps, both slung around his chest and shoulder, with the larger strap holding a pack against his back. The smaller strap held a small pouch, and was at his right side. He looked down at his glass, which glistened from what little liquid was left at the bottom. A voice echoed from behind the counter.

"Something got ya down?"

Tezeriah looked up. The bartender stood above him, cleaning a freshly washed glass with a slightly off white rag. He was a large and tall fellow, being very broad and muscular, towering over most Tediz. The bartender spoke.

"Tez, I haven't seen you this down in a long while. Not since you were last single anyway heh heh." The barkeep realized Tez didn't move, and now seemed alarmed. He usually would get some response from him, but this time was a first.

"Tez, what seems to be the problem? I've never seen you like this"

Tez looked back down at his glass. It didn't have to do anything with his relationship with Kira. No, it was something more than that. It was his life. Tez knew little of his childhood, and of his past. He never really knew his real parents. He rarely remembers who brought him up, and the most he remembers is bringing himself up from scratch, living on the streets as a child. There was one thing Tez was thinking in the back of his mind… how could this all be so? Thoughts were racing through his head. Why are we here? What is the meaning of existence? Why is everything the way it is? Tez closed his eyes and tried to relax, clear his mind a little bit. He couldn't. The more he tried, the more stressed he got; Every other second he would tense up, as if he had a bad headache and surges of pain were rushing to his face. Tez spoke, still with his eyes shut.

"You ever wonder what the meaning of life is?… What's the real purpose?" Tez continued to speak as he raised his head to look at the bartender. "Why on this god forsaken planet we live everyday with no particular plan or guarantee, just guessing what's to come next?"

There was a slight pause as the bartender looked for missed spots on the glass. "Sometimes" he said. "Sometimes I wonder if there's something better out there than mixing drinks, but then sometimes I wonder if part of this was all planned out, as if something important is going to happen, and if I'm not here doing my thing, that chance to make whatever it is that needs to happen… doesn't happen."

"Like what?"

"Well maybe talking to you causes something important to happen."

"Ya, and me finishing off this scotch is going to cure cancer."

Tez stopped. He heard something; A buzzing perhaps? No, it was more like a ringing. It was faint, and Tez had to strain his ears to hear it over the ambience. Tez was frantically looking around for the source of the sound, but he couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from.

"You need to lay off that scotch boy, I think it's getting to ya" said the barkeep with a slight laugh. It rang several times before it hit him;

His phone.

Tez scrambled for his pouch that he carried at his side, the strap slung around his chest and shoulder. He answered the phone.

"Hello?…" Tez's tone changed slightly, it was more calm and soothing "What? No, I'm out at the bar… ya, I'm hanging out with a couple of the guys, they're leaving on a trip tomorrow to see some landmark or some shit… Ya, they'll be gone for like 3 weeks and they wanted to hang out before they… no I'm fine… why do you say that?… no I've only had a drink or two… What?.. Look… listen, I've…" There was a slight pause "I've…gotta go… uh… see ya soon." he hung up the phone.

"Out with the guys?" said the bartender with a chuckle

"Yea yea. listen, I gotta run… I've got some important stuff to do…" Tez hopped out of the seat and walked to the exit. The bartender watched as he rounded the corner and walked out the door.

"Man, I hope he gets his shit together."

Once outside, Tez walked to his Jeep. The sky was dark, and the only thing that illuminated the streets was an occasional lonely street lamp on the roadside. There was a fine mist in the air, slightly gloomy. The Jeep was parked on the side of the curb, just outside of the bar. Tez's Jeep looked as if it were designed to run over street barriers, burst through walls, and keep going on the other side. He built it himself. The roof was decked with lights, the tires were beefy and wide, sticking out from the fenders, and was lifted about 10" from its original height. The lift gate had a spare tire placed in a custom fit mount, and the front had a brush guard decked with lights as well. He opened the door and climbed up into the driver's seat. He put the key into the ignition, and slowly turned the key forward one click. The dashboard lit up in electric blue, and voices came through over the CB radio. He turned the key forward once more, this time holding it there. And the engine revved to life. Tez let go of the key, which sprung back to the on position. He shifted from reverse to first gear, let off of the clutch and started to drive onward. The rumble of the Jeep ripped through the air as Tez sped up and shifted gears. Tez didn't know where he was going, he didn't need to. Driving was one thing that helped him think. But as he drove, his original thoughts from the bar had vanished. There was only one thing he could think of now… Kira. She was the only thing left that he had. He'd been with her for ages, and although they'd been fighting recently, he still didn't want to lose her. He loved her. Just the thought of all of the things they'd been through, and the chance that he might lose her, threw all things out of proportion. He shook his head, and began to focus on driving. Thoughts rattled around his head, and the only thing that could keep his mind out of the clutter was listening to the sounds around him. He heard the soft exhaust note as he cruised, the hum of the tires as he flew down the road. There was something peaceful about the lack of noise, the stereo off.

He started to notice something up ahead. There were flashing lights, and it seemed as if a road crew were directing traffic. As he drew closer, he noticed an ambulance, and street guys directing traffic. As he passed by, he tried to get a closer look at what was going on. A stretcher with a covered body was being wheeled slowly into the ambulance; the looks upon the EMT's faces were more than enough to cry upon.

Tez continued to drive on through, and with the low rumble of exhaust filling the air, he made an impulsive move onto an on ramp.

"I've got to go find Kira" he said. His eyes narrowed as he focused on the now wide highway, up on an overpass that he was driving on.

Love is a crazy thing, you know that right? It can make one person… just… crumble…. a… and no matter how stable the mind of someone is, it can make them do things they never in their right mind would even try… even trading their life so that someone else can have theirs. The problem with love is, it's like rain. It's unpredictable. No matter how much you try and predict what its next action will be, it's never a guarantee it will do what you think it will.

When you're in a relationship, you have to treat it like a flower. It requires lots of attention, and if you don't communicate on who's watering the flower, you can both kill it even when you are trying your hardest to keep it alive. If no one does anything the flower dies, and if only one person is doing the work, it creates an atmosphere that kills it. Like a relationship, the flower will get its sunny days, and get it's rainy days, and so long as it gets a balanced amount, it will thrive. Too much sun will shrivel and dry them out, as well as too much rain will drown them. You have to have both, but even if you get both, too much is never good, even when both are together.

Tez turned the corner. He saw it up ahead, parked in front of a gloomy, yet clean apartment complex.

He let out a sigh of relief.

"You never fail to worry me Kira"

He slowly began to park behind Kira's car, a brand new Rocosso, white in color. He had given the little car for her birthday. He bought built it originally for himself, but gave it to her whenever her vehicle had been stolen during a massive riot. After parking, Tez killed the engine. He was in a gaze at the vehicle in front of him, or rather, below him, his hand still, with its grip locked in position. A soft voice called from outside of the driver's side door.

"Tez?" The voice was innocent, sweet like the song of a bird.

The voice startled him, and he shook his head and blinked his eyes, as though he was trying to keep awake after a long day. He looked out of the window. Down below was a small figure, he knew what it was. Tez took the key out of the ignition, and then opened the door. He climbed out of the Jeep cautiously, and while turning around, smoothly shut the door with a soft thud. A face appeared out of the darkness. It was Kira. Only a few inches shorter than Tez, she was one of the most adorable things you could have ever imagined. Tez looked at her in the eyes; the air was still and cool, with the slightest breeze rolling in through the dusk atmosphere. In a quick moment, the two embraced. Tez felt the warmth and relief enter his body even through the cold air. He rest his head to hers, and looked into the stars. The warmth from Kira and the relief that he was with her calmed Tez, the stars and dark sky made his head spin. He took Kira by the shoulders and looked at her, with great concern in his eyes.

"Are you okay? You haven't been hurt have you?"

" Ya I'm fine" Kira said "There were some guys lurking around a couple of nights ago, but Koda took care of them" Tez laughed quietly and while holding her, turned with her.

"Well good, cause if he didn't I was going to have to beat him up ha-ha." Tez began to walk toward the doors of the apartments. "Come on, let's go inside. It's too cold out here to be just standing around". They began walking up the stairs, to the 3rd floor of the complex. Half the lights up the metal staircase were out, but there was enough light to see where you were going. Once inside of the 3rd floor hallway, Tez took out a device from the small pouch at his side. Shaped like a credit card, only thicker, he scanned the padlock on the right side of the door, which had a meter on it. After a few seconds, there was a click at the door along with some electronic noises, and the door popped open. He pushed the door open and flicked on the lights. The room was very plain, and looked like an average room in a hotel. The bathroom was directly to the left through a door, and directly in front of him at the end of the room was a bed, with an end table on the far end. The windows were at the end of the room, and the slight luminescence of the moon shined through the shades. Tez lit some of the candles in the room and turned off the lights, leaving only the lamp on the end table on.

"Tez, we really need to talk." Said Kira. Her voice quivered slightly. "They just announced on the news that the rioting has gotten worse. We really need to move out of here."

"I know" Tez sat down on the foot of the bed. He closed his eyes and hung his head. "I didn't think it'd come down to this."

Kira sat down on the bed next to him. She laid her head onto his shoulder. Feeling the comfort from her, Tez rest his head to hers, putting his arm around her to comfort her. Kira began to speak.

"You know? Even though all this is happening, I think we'll be alright"

"You think?"

"Why not? I mean, it's just some rioting over the new treaty, it can't get much worse can it?"

"Treaty?" said Tez, he sounded confused, but at the same time slightly irate. He sat up and turned his head to look at her. "I thought it was because the Western lands were claiming part of the North and East lands. Then they started evicting people from there, and that's why they started to riot?"

"Yes, so the small land of the Northern S.H.C. was pretty much going to be taken over by the West, and so the East stepped in to make a deal. They just signed a treaty while you were out saying that the West would get half of what they claimed out of the North and East. Any people who have ties with those living in that area seem to be getting irate." she explained

"Well ya, I would be too if I just got evicted without notice." He let out a sigh "it doesn't help either that we live so close to either area. I was hoping that things would die down after a bit, well, they did for a little bit didn't they?"

"Well with this new treaty in effect, people are getting really pissed off" Kira's voice seemed even more unsteady.

"I know, someone overturned a van not far from the bar. Needless to say… not everyone made it out okay"

"Damn it Tez, why doesn't anything work out for us?" Kira now had some tears rolling down her face, and Tez took her in her arms, attempting to sooth her.

"Shhh, it's okay." Tez looked back into the air again speaking in a near whisper "lets… just get some sleep and we'll figure it out in the morning." He brought her over to the side of the bed closest to the door and she climbed in. He went to blow out all of the candles. The room was now dim in all corners except for one, with only the slight blue light from the moon shining through the window shade to illuminate the room. Tez climbed into bed beside her and pulled the covers over him. He cuddled up next to her, and then proceeded to shut off the last bit of light from the lampshade. With all of the light gone, He closed his eyes. Before he could think of what was to come in the days ahead he found himself unconscious, fast asleep.


	2. Ch 2 Survival

** -CHAPTER 2 : SURVIVAL- **

BANG! A sound that could rival the decibel level of a shotgun pierced through the air. It crackled and splintered as wood was thrown through the air, crashing to the bedroom floor. The door to the bedroom that Tez and Kira were sleeping in broke into pieces as the door latch broke away from the door frame. The door slammed into the wall, near the bathroom entrance, punching the knob through and causing another unnerving sound. Tez yelled as he found himself startled and suddenly awoken, scrambling in the bed. Bed sheets flew into the air as he kicked his feet, scrambling them amongst the bed.

"Shit, Shit!"

Kira found herself frozen in place, with about half the covers hiding her. It wasn't long though before she relaxed, but for Tez, it was a different story. In Tez's frantic scramble, he soon found the edge of the bed and fell off the side, uttering one last word before slamming into the floor.

"Fuck!"

He went down backwards, causing his feet to be the last thing in the air. On his way to the ground, he had managed to get tangled in the bed sheets, taking them all with him. He hit with the back of his head first, following with his spine and back. He then turned and lay on the ground with the side of his face in the floor. The only thing Kira had now was some of the under sheets that were on the bed, which now covered the lower half of her body. Once she had seen who was at the door, she proceeded to prop herself up onto her left forearm. She looked up to where the debris was, and awaited the arrival of the infiltrator. A tall figure stood in the doorway. The figure was thin, and cast a long shadow behind it. The light was low, but features could be seen with the light provided from the cracks in the blinds. A Tedi stood a few feet in front of the door, right where the slight hallway ended, and appeared to be male.

"Kira!" there was a pause. "Uh… Where's Tez?"

Kira glanced around for a moment before sitting up in bed and looking behind her. "Uh… about that…" she said.

Tez was rising up from the ground, grasping his head, with half of the blankets and covers falling off of him. His eyes were closed and he ended up facing away from the front door.

"Oh Tez… DUDE! Can you not puss out every 5 seconds? God!" The voice seemed sarcastic and playful.

With the dizziness finally fading, and his head still throbbing, Tez finally turned around. He was not amused by the person's actions, despite the fact they were just messing with him. A frustrated look came upon his face, as he noticed who was standing at the door. It was Koda. He was a taller Tedi with a lankier look about him, standing about 8 inches taller than Tez. He also had a strap like him, but seemed to hold a long and cylindrical canister to his back, about 3 inches in diameter. By this time, Tez seemed infuriated and began briskly walking angrily towards him.

"What the HELL do you think you are doing!" He stopped as he got to the hallway where the door had been and where Koda was standing. He looked frantically at the destroyed door and hole in the wall where the door knob had punctured through, making gestures towards them as he ranted. "Wha!" He said while grabbing his head, pulling on his ears in his stress. Koda tried to tell him something, but was profoundly interrupted.

"How the heck am I supposed to get this door fixed! And look at the wall! I don't have the money to fix this! Dude, you're fixing this, 'cause there is NO-HO way in hell that I'm fixing it."

"Tez, CALM DOWN! The LAST thing you wanna think about right now is your door." Said Koda with authority and while pointing at the debris. Something was weird about him today. Tez could see it in his eyes, which seemed worried and serious.

"Wait… What?" he said, shivering his head slightly in confusion.

"Dude, it's all over the news, they just hit 3 cities with CJSF104 bombs. They targeted 4 government buildings. It's wiped out 2/3s of the government officials, including the HLN. It's not safe here anymore and we need to get out and head eastward."

By now, the anger had turned into an immense amount of shock as Tez stood in disbelief. At the mention of the CJSF104 bombs, his face went from severely irked to great shock, widening his eyes. His brain tried to process it all, but all he could do was clench his fists and look silently at the ground. His eyes moved back and forth as if he was looking across the floor, but was mostly in the result of his thinking.

"CJ what bombs?" asked Kira, intrigued and confused by the news. She was now sitting up on the bed on her legs and feet. "Who hit who!"

"CJSF104 bombs." explained Koda, who was leaning over slightly to see over Tez's shoulder and talk to Kira eye to eye. "They're "Chemically Joined, Sarin Fragmentation Bombs", size 104... Well.. It's the size code for one big ass bomb. War was just declared on the small S.H.C. settlement to the north, and civilians have already started attacking and rioting against the S.H.C. citizens. It appears from the news that the S.H.C. bombed our government buildings."

By this time, Tez had flicked on the television on to the news and saw image upon image of what was left of the cities. The cities of Mayburg, Blainestead, Rivers Peak, and Ashport had all been hit with the sarin explosives. The S.H.C. had done the unthinkable, and he started to fill with hatred. He slowly walked out of the room and into the hallway just outside while Koda kept talking.

"They deny it all of course. I just don't know why they would take on an empire so much larger in size than theirs."

Tez again walked back into the room, with a very stressed out look on his face, he was once again grabbing his head with both hands.

"They attacked us with CJSF Bombs!"

Kira hopped down out of the bed, walked over to Tez, and tried to comfort him. He half heartedly realized this, keeping a concentrated stare at the floor. He soon looked up at Koda, and took a deep breath. He calmly spoke.

"So… what do we do now?"

"Well, the plan is to head eastward, towards the safe houses and underground buildings and see how it pans out. There's a military base that should provide supplies and protection. Tez, we need to move, and we need to move now. I didn't bust down your door without reason."

"Ok… Let me and Kira get ready, and then we'll head out." Tez went to the closet and threw on a shirt and, having slept in his cargo pants the night before, decided to not bother putting on new ones. He threw on his boots and tied them in an odd fashion. He then looked up and around the room. He began to spot things, and began to hand out orders as soon as Kira had gotten fully dressed. "Uh… let's grab some stuff real quick before we leave. Kira, grab the sheets. Koda, go into the bathroom and grab the hair dryer and coffee pot." Kira walked over to the bed sheets and grabbed them off the ground, but Koda looked confused.

"What? Why?"

"Because, we might need them later. Oh yea, and grab the shower curtain too. I'll grab my bags and head out first to open the door for you guys."

"Okayyy…" Koda said as he walked to the bathroom. "Tez, next time. Try not to smoke so much crack right before the next terrorist attack, Okay?"

Tez ignored Koda's remark. He knew exactly what he was doing. He grabbed his smaller pack, which lay against the wall next to the big one. He threw the pack's strap over his left shoulder and back, sliding the pouch down to his right side next to his hip. He then began to pack down his big pack with clothes, and various toiletries, including toothpaste, from his closet. He then picked up the big pack and slung it over in the same fashion, only this time the pack lay against his back.

"Tez, when we get to the Jeep, where do you want me to put the sheets?" asked Kira, now heading towards the foot of the bed. She had an armful of sheets, which she struggled to see above.

"When we get out there, you and Koda get in the back; you can throw those behind the seats. Tell Koda to throw the hair dryer, shower curtains, and coffee pot into the trunk too when we get outside"

"I'm right here dude." said Koda, popping in behind him. In his arms were the supplies he was told to get from the bathroom, with the shower curtain wrapped around his neck like a scarf.

"Oh, well.." He paused as he saw the shower curtain turned scarf. "Okaay then… Uh.. let's go. I'll head out first. Koda… Watch our six." he walked out of the doorway. Cold air hit him once he broke the doorway's plane. Something was oddly strange. It was dead quiet. Once again, he was hit with an acute realization. He paused just outside of the doorway, and looked down the left, which had the rest of the hallway. It was empty. He was in an apartment complex, with no people in it. It was completely silent. By then Koda and Kira had stopped just behind him, and seemed perplexed.

"Uh, dude, where is everyone?" asked Tez

"Uh.. Well, you see. While everyone else was being told to silently evacuate from the complex, you guys were passed out in the bedroom. And then I came in because I hadn't seen you guys leave, and well.. The door was locked so I bust down the door, and luckily you guys were alright."

"Jesus…" Tez seemed mesmerized by the unusually dank hallway.

"Alright, let's get moving."

"Right." He began head to the right leading Koda and Kira to the door. He opened the door to the stairwell. It was dark as it was before, only much cooler. The weather had dropped in temperature significantly enough that the air from outside had cooled the staircase, and with every breath visible vapor could be seen. He propped the door open with his foot, letting them both through before letting it shut on its own. He proceeded to take his first steps down the stairs, leading the way. He looked up to ensure they found the steps, mostly Kira, because she was having a hard time seeing.

"Watch your step."

He grabbed the sheets at the bottom and helped Kira carry them down each stair level. The lower they got, the easier the next flight seemed. Once on the last flight of steps, Tez rushed ahead of them both to get to his Jeep to unlock and open the doors for them. As he went down the steps he skipped a stair with each step, watching his feet to make sure he didn't slip up. Midway through his last step, he felt a sharp pain in the right half of his ribs. His body was violently thrown off course as he was hit hard in the chest, causing him to slam into the brick wall to his left. As soon as his ribs and shoulder met the wall, his head went into a whiplash effect, meeting the wall with an audible thud. The impact sent a shockwave throughout his entire body, leaving a tingly feeling in his fingertips. Numbness flooded his body, and his head throbbed with extreme intensity - so much so it rivaled the pain of cluster headaches. A Tedi had come out of the shadows near the side of the stairwell where the dumpsters were, tackling him into the wall. After rebounding from the wall, Tez tried to push back his attacker in the direction he had came from, but was too dazed from the hit and was effortlessly thrown to the ground by the attacker. His back dragged against the rough concrete below, creating yet another abrasion on his body. The attacker was then violently hit in the back. Kira had now jumped on the attacker's back, throwing him off balance and sending both of them to the ground, back first. In an attempt to get her away, the attacker threw a quick elbow at her, which caught her square in the cheek. The force knocked her to the side, and she immediately dropped to the ground. The attacker then turned to get up and find Tez, but was met in the face with Koda's heel, knocking out a few teeth in the process. The now bloody faced Tedi tried to scramble towards the outdoors but was stopped by Koda, who grabbed the scruff of fur between his chest and collar, and threw him up against the wall. Still grasping him by the scruff of the neck, he rapidly hit him in the face, causing his nose to start to bleed and sending more blood from his mouth through the chilly air. After a few quick punches he then threw the Tedi out of the open door and into the sidewalk, causing the attacker to trip under his own feet and back down into the pavement. He was quick to get back up though, as he was soon out of sight of Koda, who ran a short distance out of the door to the streets to chase the assailant off.

Tez grumbled as he turned onto his side, clutching his ribs. He needed to cough, but when he tried to exhale, he couldn't expel any breath. The blow to the wall had knocked with wind out of him, and he soon began to panic mentally, trying to force any air in or out of his lungs. He began to roll slowly onto his back and rocked slightly as he tried to begin breathing normally again.

"Ughhh… OWWWWW!"

Kira also began to stir. She began to pick herself up, but collapsed back down quickly. She managed to prop herself up onto her elbow and forearm, uttering inaudible grumbling sounds. Her head felt like it was spinning, and she didn't quite know where she was. Koda walked back into the room, and realized quickly that his friends were still down.

"You guys alright?" he said with worry, rushing in at their side in the process. He got to Kira first, who was closest to the door. She spoke as he helped sit upright.

"Who was that guy?"

"I don't know, but whoever he is, he won't be coming back for a good while." He got her situated against the wall, and then went to aid Tez, who was now hunched over on his knees with his fists in the ground to support him. He had his head on the ground and seemed to have rebounded from the hit, as his breathing was still heavy, but was returning back to normal.

"Dude, that was a pretty hard hit, let me see your head" He tried to turn Tez's head more to see how much damage had been done, if any. But as soon as he turned his head to see the left side where it had impacted the wall, Tez pulled away.

"Oww, fuck dude stop it! It's fine. Just let me catch my breath and I'll be fine" He took a few breaths before slowly climbing to his feet, and headed towards Kira. He sat down with her and hugged her, the two both relieved everyone was still okay. Koda found a place to sit down at, which was the wall opposite to the one Tez had slammed into, and rest his back and head to the wall behind him.

"Is everything okay?" Kira said to Tez. They had stopped hugging and she had nuzzled the tuft of her head against his.

"Ya… everything is okay." He said softly. They sat in silence for a brief moment, relapsing on the peace for the moment, with Koda trying to catch his breath. Tez began to get up when something in his peripheral vision caught his attention. "Kira, you're bleeding." He tried to examine her head, which had a dark and shiny spot where the blood was. He tried to thumb through the fur on her head near the blood, but found no visible lacerations.

"It's probably your blood dude" said Koda, who was still resting against the wall. Tez turned his head towards Koda's voice.

"What?"

"Uh… If I recall correctly, you're head smashed into that wall over there not 5 seconds ago." His face turned to a smirk. "Or did the brain cells you lost cause you to forget?"

Tez felt the top of his head, which had gone completely numb since the initial hit. He felt a spot where it was wet and he knew right away what damage had been done. The wound was rough, and was already starting to swell exponentially. He brought his hand down to see it covered in blood.

"Oh my god Tez!" exclaimed Kira seeing the blood on his hand. She looked at where he had touched his head and saw the injury. It was a rather large laceration, about 3 inches in length, and in the low light, you could still see the blood oozing out. She took his head tried to examine it closely, but couldn't tell how deep it really was. Koda had realized the extent of the injury by now, and had gotten up from his resting place in order to get a better look at it.

"Doesn't that hurt?"

"No, not anymore. It did when you first touched it, but I can't feel anything right now"

"Ha, well shit. Isn't that something?"

"Well how bad is it?"

"I've seen worse, but its several inches long it looks like. It's swelling up pretty nasty too."

"Maan!" Tez sighed. "Well, not much I can do about it now." He looked over at the stairs, where Kira and Koda had dropped their things. "I guess we better get our stuff." He got up from where he was sitting and went to go pick up the blanket that was lying at the foot of the stairs.

"Dude, I don't think you should be moving around a whole lot after what happened" suggested Koda.

"No, I'll be fine. We need to keep going."

Koda didn't want to argue at a time like this and ran ahead to go help him, grabbing the stuff he had set on the steps. Kira went ahead of Tez and stopped him from picking up the blankets and carried them herself. He was already struggling enough with the bags he had strung around him.

"Tez.. You really need to take it easy right now. Just, go out and open up the doors for us okay?"

"No, I can…" He saw the look on Kira's face and instantly changed his mind. "Fine" he said reluctantly. He smiled, knowing that whether he liked it or not, he really should listen this time, and began to head towards the Jeep. Out of the door, the sun was just hitting about halfway out of the Horizon, and was no longer misty like the night before. The warmth from the sun's rays hit him as he broke the plane of the door and felt really nice though the cold air, which was brisk and refreshing to inhale. He pulled the keys out of his pouch and flipped them around until the black rubberized key floated to the top. He grabbed that key with his teeth, and let the rest of the keys fall down, leaving only the vehicle's key by itself. He grabbed it and put his fingers at the tip of the key to prevent it from scratching the paint as he found the lock cylinder. He unlocked the door and opened it, looking cautiously around the street to avoid another surprise assault. He unlocked all the doors with the click of a button on his door, and closed it. He switched to the back door adjacent to it and opened it for his friends, who were just now heading out of the apartment complex with all of the stuff in arms. Something was up though, it had been dead silent up until that point, but now a low rumbling had slowly surfaced itself as ambiance. Tez looked out into the horizon, where the sun had started to rise. He noticed that the grass in the distance was moving quite oddly and a white plume was seen in the distance. He looked to his friends, who had gotten most of the stuff behind the back seats and Kira was just now climbing in.

"Uh.. Does anyone else notice that noise?" Kira said. No one else seemed to notice though, as Koda was still putting the shower curtains in the trunk. She waved her hands at both of them. "Hello?"

"Why is the grass moving like that?" Tez said as he squinted to see through the orange light coming off of his face. Tez was looking out to the rising sun, just above the horizon.

"What grass?" replied Koda, who peered over the top edge of the Jeep to see what he was looking at.

"Oh sure, ignore the small one" She said, and proceeded to flip both of them off and flash facial gestures; a signal to both of their inconsideration.

"Oh shit, that ain't grass." Tez said unnervingly. The noise had now gotten to the level where it could have been as loud as any of their voices, and the white plume was now much larger. He looked up into the sky, where he saw a few more of these plumes. His eyes widened, and he turned towards Koda.

"Koda…" He said cautiously, and then nudged his eyes in the direction of the Jeep as he said his next words. "Get in the back seat.. NOW."

"Why? I was gonna sit shotgun…" He was blatantly interrupted by Tez, who started to lose his composure.

"Get in the back seat now!"

Koda didn't have to say a word. He quickly closed Kira's door, and then swooped around the rear of the vehicle. He opened the door on the passenger's side and climbed into the back seat and shut the door, which caused the vehicle to rock slightly. Tez had already opened the door and hopped into the driver's seat, inserted the key into the ignition, and slammed the door shut. He swiftly threw in the clutch pedal and shifted to first. _What the hell? _Thought Kira. She didn't know exactly what was going on, but from the extent everyone was reacting, instinctively put on her seatbelt, and adjusted it tightly around her waist. Koda had done the same, and leaned over in his seat to look ahead out of the front windshield. Tez turned the key and the engine roared to life. By now, Kira had taken the time to look out of Koda's window, and noticed the plume heading right for them.

"Ohhhhh… shit…"

Tez accelerated quickly out of his parking spot and headed fast down the street. The left two tires plopped down into a pot hole quickly, but the sheer size of the vehicle floated over it with ease. As soon as they had left halfway down the block, what once had been as small plume in the distant horizon was now a full blown speeding rocket, and smashed into the side of the apartment complex they had just been in, completely engulfing it in flames and leveling the first half of the building into mere rubble. He started to throw off his gear, which had made it very uncomfortable to sit in his seat. With his bags in the passenger seat, he began to pull his seat belt over him and quickly resumed to driving, ripping through each gear. The Jeep rocked with each bump as they swerved through each corner and street. Buildings and pieces of the road were tossed through the air as the missiles from the sky hit the earth below.

"Son of a Bitch!" exclaimed Kira as a missile hit the path in front of them. Her heart was pounding with adrenaline with each thunderous explosion.

"How you doing bud?" yelled Koda over all of the noise. His question was directed towards the front, where Tez was driving.

"Not so hot. My head isn't numb anymore. I feel like shit!" He felt like he was suddenly wrapped in 10 blankets and couldn't sweat. He was very close to spilling what was left of his last meal onto the steering wheel of his Jeep, but pressed onward. His head throbbed with the intensity of cluster headaches again, and even a slight bump or imperfection of the road seemed to send an even worse pain searing down his body.

Koda turned to Kira, who was no longer looking out any of the windows and was staring silently at the floor. She was trying to keep her mind off of what could happen if any of those missiles hit in the wrong area, which didn't seem to be working. Koda then grabbed the bottom of his shirt, and tore a large piece off of it, stretching it in the air.

"Do you think you can reach Tez?"

Kira looked up and over at Koda. Koda continued to yell over the loud roar of the exhaust and hum of the tires, but it was only loud enough for Kira to hear.

"Reach over his head rest and wrap up his head. It's not going to stop bleeding on its own." He handed her the strip of shirt, and she clutched it in her hands. As they drove ahead, Tez noticed the street start to split into two as they drove away.

"Which road do I take?" he said speaking to Koda.

"Dude, just keep following this one, it'll take you onto F64."

"No, I mean do I stay on the left road or the right road"

"What do you mean? There's only one road!"

Tez looked on ahead. Koda was right. There was only one road. He soon realized that the reason for the split was due to him seeing double. He began to feel weaker and weaker, as he watched his own blood drip past his left eye.

"AHHHHH!" Tez was now in extreme pain. He clenched his teeth and let out sounds of agony as his wound was wrapped with the cloth. For a moment, he totally stopped his task of driving and bat away Kira's hands as she tried to tie the back of it together.

"Ow stop! That fuckin' hurts! What the hell!"

"I'm trying to wrap it up! If we don't stop the bleeding, you're gonna die."

"Give me a little warning next time will ya?"

"Tez, Drive!" yelled Koda. They were headed halfway off of the road, and Tez quickly yanked it back in between the lines. He could see the exit ramp up ahead, and proceeded to drive onto Freeway 64. Once on the overpass, Koda looked out his window to the horizon they had seen before. Smoke poured through the sky where buildings had once stood, and even through the tinted window he could see the faces of the attackers. It was now very quiet with no bombs dropping from the sky.

"Oh my god… Those sons of bitches."

"Alright Tez, this is going to hurt. On the count of three I'm going to tie this around your head." Kira laid the shirt-turned-bandage on top of his cut, causing him to tense up from the pain. "One… Two… Three!" She pulled the bandage tightly to put pressure on the wound, but that did nothing to stop Tez from reacting from such an intense stress to his body. He writhed in pain as she tied the back of the bandage together on the back of his head, slamming his fist into the door panel and kicking his foot into the floor.

"YAHHHHHHHH!"

Koda winced at his screams, knowing well enough that there wasn't a single thing he could do for his best friend. He knew Tez was tough, but no one could keep going with the blood he was losing. Tez gritted his teeth and let out grunts of pain as he continued on down the road, trying to focus on what was ahead. He was deeply interrupted by the pounding his head was making, throbbing with each beat of his heart.

"What exactly attacked us back there? They leveled that whole part of town!"

"It's the damn squirrels. I don't understand it, what do they have against us? What?"

Tez didn't want to answer. He stared ahead and continued on driving, knowing fair well the extent of the trip ahead. He looked out of his window at the ruins of what had been his home for so long. He sighed as he looked at the last surviving piece of the town; a sign with the words _Welcome To Little Wing _on it, charred slightly from the black smoke emanating from beneath it. It wasn't the greatest place in the world, but he couldn't escape the pain, that the place where so many memories had been created is now just a smoldering pile of rubble. Koda kept rambling on about the squirrels, and Tez just nodded in compliance every so often. The rest of the ride was fairly quiet on their way out east. They had been driving for quite some time, filling up on fuel twice already, and it already was nearing dusk. He looked into his rear view mirror to see what his friends were been up to. Kira had rest her arm on the window and leaned her head against it, using it as a pillow. Koda had gone straight for the full collapse and was snoring loudly. His head was tilted fully back, resting it on his headrest, and had thrown his arm over his eyes to block out the light. He looked ahead and sighed. He was already feeling the wear from driving; his legs ached and were killing him. He knew that he had to find a safe place to park for the night, but he didn't know how far it was to the nearest safe town, nor how long it would remain safe. He looked down at the gas gauge to see that it was down to about half since he last filled it down the road. He decided to take the nearest exit and stay away from the cities altogether, knowing that that would be their safest bet to undisturbed sleep through the night. He began to travel down a dirt road. It was beginning to get darker, and he knew he had to find a place fast. Dust was kicked up into the air as they cruised through mud holes that would make any other vehicle inoperable. He drove out to a secluded place in the woods, ensuring his vehicle was out of site and threw it in reverse, ripped the E-brake, killed the engine, and let out the clutch. He didn't know about his friends, but he was dying of hunger. He hadn't had anything to eat since the night before, and the beating his body took earlier didn't improve things. By now his friends were just beginning to awaken from their slumber.

"Where are we?" asked Kira. She stretched her arms and legs which had been frozen in position for a long while. Her left arm was numb from sleeping on it, and she too was experiencing hunger pains. She looked out the window at the trees nearby. She was very confused by what was going on and unbuckled her seatbelt.

"I second that notion" Koda commented. He was much slower to wake up.

"We're out in the… Aw dude. Not all over the upholstery!" Tez had looked into the rearview mirror to where Koda had fallen asleep. In his deep snoring slumber he had drooled all over himself, with the excess dripping onto the seat next to him.

"Oh.. Sorry" he said in reply, wiping the drool off his face.

"Anyway, we're out in the woods. I didn't know how long it would be before the next town, so I figure we'd camp out here for a while. Well, just for the night anyway. It's secluded, but it's safer than the cities they've been targeting."

"What are we going to do for food?" asked Kira. She saw that dusk had now turned to darkness, and knew of the chances of finding food out here were slim.

"I've got some canned food in the trunk, there's plenty of SPLAM to be had back there."

"Ah, really Tez? SPLAM?"

"What's wrong with SPLAM?"

"Well, the fact it tastes like horse shit isn't a factor in your canned meat choice?"

"Awww Kira, you can have the canned veggies then." He said to her playfully. "And how about you Kode?"

Koda hadn't been listening to their initial conversation. He had already conked out again, with his body curled up against his door. He was already drooling again, this time on the carpet.

"Koda!"

Koda jerked his head up in an attempt to act as if he hadn't been really sleeping, but failed miserably as the drool made his recent sleep apparent. "Who what? What were we talking about?"

"What do you want to eat?"

"There's food?"

"Yea, I sometimes get hungry so I keep a bunch of canned food in the trunk. I've got SPLAM and some canned veggies."

"Yelch, SPLAM? What kind of choice is that? Isn't that an acronym for _Shit Packaged Larva and Awful meat_?"

"Yea, sure. Whatever it is, it tastes fine to me."

"You also can eat any food because the texture doesn't bother you… and I for one don't like my food to feel like a can of horse shit…" He thought for a moment about what Tez had said earlier, and he realized how ridiculous it had sounded. "You sometimes get hungry… so you keep a bunch of canned food in the trunk? Tez, what the fuck?"

"Ya, there's also a can opener back there."

Kira was slightly appalled at the news of Tez's food hiding. She knew he was weird, having known him for quite some time, but he never mentioned having food stashed away in his trunk. "Uh Tez.. In all my years of getting to know you, why did you never tell me about this food?"

"Uh… well.. I, uh.." A nervous feeling engulfed Tez as he tried to figure out a response to the newfound information. He was going to tell her about the food, but didn't get the chance to, considering it wasn't long ago that he started stashing the food. Often he would go to Koda's and he would have nothing to eat, so Tez would have some in the Jeep ready for snacking.

"There's nothing back here" Said Koda, who was leaning over the back seat to try and look around for the food.

"Here, it's… hold on." Tez climbed out of the Jeep and opened the trunk. He had to get up and stand on the rear bumper to even reach anything in the back seat, but he didn't mind. He moved some of the stuff on right side of the trunk, and opened a plastic door in the cladding. Inside was an array of cans stacked neatly on a carpeted surface, with padding to prevent the cans from banging around. "So do you want Veggies, or some of this canned fruit?"

Kira sighed and propped her head on her hand, with her elbow resting on the seat. She watched as Tez and Koda argued over which food he should get, and about how Tez had no taste in good food. As much of a dork her boyfriend was, she couldn't help thinking that anything stupid he did was really cute.

"Fine, I'll take the baked beans then!" Koda grabbed the beans out of Tez's hands and picked the can opener off of the trunk floor. He disappeared out of the Jeep before Tez could even mutter a word.

"You forgot your spoon!" he yelled, pulling out a bag of utensils from the storage compartment. Koda came over, and with a slight annoyed look about him, grabbed the spoon and walked away.

"Here you go" Tez said softly. Held out a can in the direction of Kira, who was in a stared gaze out into the air. She turned her head at the can, wondering what it was he was trying to give her.

"What is it?"

"Sweet potatoes."

Kira's felt butterflies in her stomach as she slowly grabbed the can from Tez's hands. Normally canned foods didn't appeal to her all that much, but she had an undying love for sweet potatoes, can or no can. Tez was pretty much the only one who knew this though; she tried to keep her sweet potato cravings secret. She looked at him in the eyes, which were gleaming slightly from the low luminance coming from the dome light. He was quite a sad sight really. The bandage was now soaked in red liquid above his eye, and his ears were drooping slightly from how weak he was. _Awww.. _She thought, _I love you too Tez…_

"It's the last can" he explained.

Kira knew how much he loved sweet potatoes as well. In fact, the reason he knew about her obsession was because she had accidentally devoured plate of them one day, the same plate Tez had cooked for his lunch. Boy oh boy was that a mistake.

"Thanks Tez." she said as she turned red in the face.

"Oh, before you start eating that, lets cook it first."

"Cook it?"

"Ya… Remember the hairdryer and coffee pot I had Kode bring?" He explained, with Kira nodding in response. "Well, we can use them to cook food."

"How?"

"Come one, I'll show you"

Tez grabbed the hairdryer, some cable from the trunk, the coffee pot, as well as two cans of SPLAM and headed to the front. He plugged in the long cable into the accessory plug and unraveled it outside.

"Dude, these beans suck ass" Koda was sitting out on a rock a small distance from the Jeep. He was eating straight from the can as he turned to see Kira watching Tez unravel a length of cable. "What the hell?"

"Let me just plug this in…" He plugged in the hairdryer into the cable, and started piling dry pine needles on the ground in front of Koda.

"So.. What are you doing?"

"Starting a fire"

"You really think that will start a fire?" questioned Koda. "The air on those things doesn't get too hot. It'd work I think If you got yourself electrocuted and started a fire that way" He smiled.

"Shows what you know" remarked Tez, who already had quite the pile going. Tez smashed the end of the hairdryer on the ground, breaking off part of the casing and revealing the metal coils on the inside. Kneeling on one knee, he pressed the end of the hairdryer to the pile and turned it on. It wasn't before too long that a fire slowly emerged from beneath the hairdryer, and Tez was loading the starter pile with firewood.

"Wouldn't it have been easier just to use this?" Koda said, holding up a lighter.

"Why didn't you give that to me earlier!"

".. Well.. You didn't ask." he replied, with a smirk on his face.

"Okay Kira, now pour the food into the coffee pot"

Kira opened the can and did so, being careful to get every last piece into the pot. Tez grabbed a few long sticks which were smoldering and lined them up. The ends were red hot, and glowed like coal, but were no longer on fire. He Set the pot onto the embers and watched as the food slowly cooked to perfection. Koda looked down at his cold, unappetizing can of beans, and took a look at the nice, warm sweet potatoes that were now being served.

"And we pour it back into the can, and boom, it's ready to eat" Tez poured it back into the can, and stuck a fork into the steaming hot food. Kira took a bite, and a wave of sensation hit her taste buds. She immediately curled up to Tez and ate as they both looked into the fire, which crackled and hissed in the silence.

"Maaaan" Complained Koda "You're saying I could have cooked these before I ate them?" He tossed his spoon into the can, which stuck into the cold beans at the bottom.

"Hey man, I didn't say anything." he quickly thought of something "smart" to say back. "Oh, and _you should have asked_" he said mockingly and with a smile.

"Ya ya.." he said as he stared into his can. "Can I borrow that pot now?" He then realized Tez hadn't had anything to eat yet, and quickly changed his angle. "You know what, never mind." He saw that he was busy sharing the moment with Kira, who were both sitting in the grass and watching the fire, and decided he shouldn't disturb his friend from his spot. "Here, let me get you something" He got up from the rock he was sitting on and set his can down on it, proceeding to head back to the Jeep. He reopened the trunk and grabbed another can of baked beans. "Definitely don't want to cook SPLAM in that pot before I use it" he said to himself. He closed the trunk and began to prepare the beans in the pot when he realized the embers had burned out on the sticks Tez had used. He threw the sticks back into the fire and grabbed some new smoldering sticks to cook with.

"Hey Tez, I made you some food" he said holding the steaming can of beans out for Tez to take.

Tez was half asleep when he realized what was in front of him.

"Oh! Thanks man." Kira sat up as he began to eat his meal. He was stuffing down the beans by the spoonful, and the can was empty before he knew it.

"Damn Tez, I'm still cooking my food!" Koda commented.

"Pour in another can while you're at it, I can have at least 3 more of those things."

"Fine.."

Kira was lying on the grass, with her hands behind her head. She looked up into the stars, which were twinkling in the night sky. "Tez, remember when we first met?"

"Ya, I remember. I was walking up the hill back home the night I had just gotten the money for my rent."

"And it was raining, remember? You slipped down the mud and fell all the way back down the hill, and I ran over to make sure you were okay?"

"Yea… I remember…" He said embarrassingly. "Then you tried to help me up, but then you slipped and got all muddy, and so I suggested cleaning up at my house since it was close."

"And then you couldn't find your key, so we had to look all around that muddy hill to find it."

"Ya… I loved that day." he said with a smile.

"Here" Said Koda, holding out another can of beans.

"Thanks" He said with a nod.

After they were finished eating, both of them put the fire out by tossing whatever loose dirt they could onto the last of the embers. Tez woke up Kira, who had fallen asleep stargazing in the grass, and they headed back to the Jeep. He pulled out the toiletries he had brought out of the bag in the vehicle, and everyone took care of their daily needs.

"Ahhh, nothing like emptying the tank after a long ass day" said Koda loudly from the tree line.

"Dude, stop It with the Crimson Eagle already, I can hear you pissing from all the way over here." He proceeded to spit out the last of the toothpaste he had in his mouth and wrapped the toothbrush back up. Without much water, he had to save every bit he could. The water he had was distilled and only about a gallon, and was usually used to mix with the coolant he had in the trunk. Luckily he hadn't mixed them yet.

Kira came back out of the woods with the toothbrush he had packed for her too, as well as the lone roll of toilet paper he had crammed into the bag.

"Time to get some real sleep!" she said handing the roll back to him.

"Well, I hope this lasts until the next stop" he said to himself as he put it back into the bag.

Once everyone was done with their bathroom needs, he folded down the back seats to make the trunk even bigger. He then moved everything from the trunk into the front on the floor, with his friends helping him.

"Well guys… well… mostly Koda I guess…" He paused for a moment before continuing. "We're all going to have to sleep in the trunk. I'm pretty sure we can all fit so if there are any objections, well… I guess speak up now."

"Can I sleep in the front seats? Asked Koda.

"Sure.. If you really want to. More room for me. Just move everything to the floor on the seat you won't be using and you can sleep in the open seat."

They piled in the vehicle, with Koda in the front, and locked the doors, causing the lights to go out on the inside. They sorted the blankets and bed sheets Tez had told them to bring amongst themselves, and then immediately climbed in for warmth. Tez laid down with his feet to the front of vehicle, within minutes, Tez was out cold.

A squirrel sat outside on a park bench. The sun was shining high and bright, and the air was quite comfortable. It wasn't warm enough to deem the air warm, nor was it cold enough to call it cool; just the right temperature to cool you down if you broke a sweat. It was beautiful. A slight breeze rolled in as the squirrel looked out into the streets, watching as the bustling traffic net him a wave now and then. The birds in the tree above him twittered as the leaves blew out from beneath them, and the squirrel got up and brushed the crumbs from the crackers he had been eating off of his clothes. A hiss shot out from the direction of the street as a white bus slowly came to a stop near the sidewalk, opened its doors, and made lugging noises as its engine ran at idle. The squirrel grabbed the binder he had sitting on the seat, and walked casually towards the open doors of the vehicle. As he got closer to the bus, a voice screamed out from somewhere in the streets as gunshots rang out in the distance. The squirrel stopped and turned his head in the direction the shots had come from, when he heard another hiss come from the streets again. The doors were slowly closing as the bus slowly rolled forward, and caused the squirrel to yell and run towards it as it began to get away from him.

"Hey, HEY!"

He got to the bus just before the doors closed and began to try and get in before they sealed shut, but ended up getting his arm with the binder caught in the doors. Adrenaline began pumping through his veins as he frantically tried to keep up with the moving bus, but the bus simply began traveling faster than his legs would allow it. He made one final leap and grabbed his other hand on the small opening in the door, planting his feet into the side of the bus. He struggled as he started to slide down the side, and used every muscle in his body to keep himself from falling onto the ground below. He attempted to take his right foot and force the door open, and to his surprise, it was a success. He almost lost his grip on the door when it finally broke open, but kept his grip and pulled himself with all of his strength into the Bus. The bus driver closed the doors shut once he got himself inside, and he grabbed the binder that had been in his hands before and approached the bus driver, who was driving wildly through the streets.

"Why did you do that!"

"Sit down and shut up kid! I'm trying to drive!"

He didn't need to walk to the seat behind him, because in the next second, the bus drive took a left turn that caused him to be thrown backwards, and he stumbled into the seat next to him on the right side, falling onto another squirrel.

"What's going on?

"We're being shot at!"

"What!"

"GET DOWN!"

His head was pushed down by a hand as a shower of bullets tore through the sheet metal of the bus. Blood came down like rain, and the bus seemed to straighten out and speed forward. The squirrel tried to get up, but the full weight of a body was keeping him down, and he pushed himself out from underneath the body, which was twitching sporadically without control, with blood seeping from several places, including its head. The squirrel's head was spinning in confusion, as he grabbed the side of the seat in front of him and pulled himself up. He looked up ahead at what was going on in front of him. The bus driver had been fatally wounded, and the weight of her foot had nearly floored the accelerator. He looked out of the front window and froze. The bus was now careening out of control, and heading straight for a brick building. He tried to quickly get into the nearest seat, but as soon as he got the upper two-thirds of his body in the seat, the bus collided with the building, slamming him into the seat in front of him. It was like a tree limb broke, as a sound cracked through the air.

"GAHHHHH! Haaahh!" He bit down hard and growled through his teeth as tears streamed down his eyes. He looked down at his arm, where the string of pain had been shooting down his spine. The intense feeling of nausea filled him, and he soon found himself puking the crackers he had just eaten before on the floor beside him. His two forearm bones had snapped in both places and had tore through the skin on both sides, with the proximal end out the top about halfway to his elbow and the distal end being forced through his wrist. Blood was pumped out of the two bones with each heartbeat as he slowly attempted to get up. Tears were now streaming down his face as intense amounts of pain rang through his body, and he became paler and paler with each second. "BaaA! HaaAA! He grabbed his arm, and with some form of insanity, held it against his body as he slowly stumbled out of the bus. He staggered out into the sun, where he collapsed to the ground, still clutching his mangled arm. A shadow began to emerge above him, and he slowly looked up to see a brown figure standing above him. He looked into its eyes, which were deep and had a cast to them. Tez held a gun in his hands as he looked down at the suffering squirrel, which begged in its eyes for mercy… for the pain to stop… just to live. The squirrel's body finally could not take the substantial amount of stress, and he began to go into shock. Tez drew the gun up to the squirrel's head and began to squeeze the trigger, but couldn't bring himself to do it. He fought the urge to pull it, and slowly began to let off of the trigger, his hands shaking with nervousness.

POP! A gunshot sliced through the air, and the echo's seemed to last forever. The trigger had been pulled, and bits of brain flew to the ground with a stream of blood with it. He had pulled the trigger, and he began to convulse with disbelieve. He looked at the gun, and dropped it. _What have I done?_

Tez's eyes popped open. His heart was racing a mile a minute and he was sweating immensely. He looked around at his surroundings without moving, and saw Kira in front of his eyes, facing away from him in a deep sleep. _It was only a dream _he thought to himself. He sat up, and tried to catch his breath. Koda was no longer in the front seat, and had curled up with his friends for warmth. Without the engine running they had no heat, and the air was very cold. He could actually see the vapor from his breath as he sat inside of the vehicle. He looked at his arms and hands to make sure that it had all been a dream, and that this was reality. His heart rate started to drop, and with the anxiety fading he began to notice how sick he felt, especially in the cold weather. He climbed into the front seat and inserted the key into the ignition, and put the vehicle in neutral. He depressed the clutch pedal to the floor, and started the engine. The exhaust rumbled to live, creating a rather loud noise. He quickly looked back at his friends to see if the noise had caused any of them to awaken, but they appeared to be fast asleep.

"Huh, it's only 1 A.M." he whispered to himself. He sat staring out of the vehicle into the night sky for a while, nearly dozing off in the process, and waited for the heat to build up in the vehicle. Once it was warm enough to be nearly uncomfortable, he shut the vehicle off and returned the gear shifter to reverse before climbing back into the trunk. He had a long day ahead of him, and he knew he would have to get some deep sleep before heading out. Without a question and sickness following him, it was soon lights out.


	3. Ch 3 Deception

**CHAPTER 3 : DECEPTION**

A sound startled Kira as it groaned from the distance, causing her to arise from her slumber. Locking herself in her position on the trunk floor, her ears twitched as the sound became more prominent and distinguishable. Her eyes scanned the surroundings, which were barely defined in the moonlight that was creeping in from the front windshield. She sat up and glanced to the area to the right of her. Koda was fast asleep and curled against the wheel well, muttering things that logically did not make much sense. Kira rolled her eyes and began to turn her attention to the noise outside, when she realized she had missed something. Tez was not sleeping next to her, nor could he be found anywhere inside of the vehicle. The sound outside was once again pronounced. It sounded very strange, almost as though someone was coughing and gagging… Even gasping for breath. She inched her way to the door handle, making sure that even through the dark and opaque window tinting she could not be detected from the outside. Cracking the door slowly open, she peered out into the open air, and slowly a hunched figure appeared into view. With the moon lighting up the grass and landscape, she put the pieces together of what exactly it was that had appeared to be cringed on the cooling ground.

"Tez?" She whispered. She quickly tossed the door open and ran towards him, where he was nearly collapsing to the ground from exhaustion and fatigue. She got down on her knees and tried to figure out what was wrong, but the only response she could get from him was a simple head shake before he began to vomit again. She tried her best to help him, but despite her best efforts all she could manage to do was hold and comfort him. He was in bad shape, and she could tell he would not make it far unless they found him some real medical attention. His body temperature was so high, it made Kira uncomfortable to just be near him.

Tez was feeling very incognitive. The bandage around his head had bulged outward, a sign that his injury had swollen immensely. His head was very sore and he felt as if he was on fire. He was dizzy, and felt like he was falling as vertigo took hold. All he wanted to do was make it all go away, but the more he thought about it the sicker he would feel. he continued to vomit as he watched the ground before him slowly disappear. Kira tried to keep her hold on Tez strong as she watched his seemingly lifeless body collapse to the ground. She managed to throw both of them to the side just before he contacted with the ground, preventing him from landing in the filth he had created. Her heart began to pound out of fear and panic as she unsuccessfully began to drag Tez to the vehicle.

Koda! She cried as she slowly and painfully inched her way to the vehicle, pulling Tez along with every step. Koda! She cried out again, and then again, until she finally uttered one last final attempt to yield a response from her friend.

A small sound echoed from a void space as Koda's sleep was slowly becoming disturbed. Again the sound struck through as he found himself feeling like there was no gravity supporting him. The third time the sound was audible, and he woke up to the sound of his name striking through the air. He jerked into motion as he heard his name called for a fourth and final time. Realizing that none of his friends were in the Jeep with him he quickly and instinctively rushed into action, getting over to the open door, and towards the voice that had called his name. Two bodies came into view as he made his exit, and he couldn't have had more situations run through his head of what might have happened. Kira was desperately trying to drag Tez towards him. She had him by the collar and was trying to pull him by using her whole body for leverage, but repeatedly fell onto her back as she pulled her hardest and lost grip. He sprinted off in their direction and immediately skidded down and into a kneeling position as he began to question Kira. 

"What happened!" 

"I don't know! He was just out here throwing up and then he fainted.. Just help me get him back to the car!" 

"alright alright! Just.. Help me lift him up, and we'll lay him down in the back."

They grabbed Tez and hoisted him up over Koda's shoulders, causing a significant struggle for him as he staggered his way towards the open door. Kira ran ahead and put the seats back into their vertical position. She knew that where they were located in the woods was rocky at best, and the cushion from the seats would be much better for him than the hard floor of the trunk. Koda carefully laid him down on his back in the back seat. He stared at his friend as Kira rushed around the vehicle, moving things back to the trunk. He began to think of what might happen to his friend, all of the times they had shared. It wasn't long enough. He stood motionless in the doorway as a feeling of depression filled his body. No words were uttered for what seemed the longest time, and Koda's eyes remained in a fixed position, glossy in the ample moonlight.

"Koda, can you get this?"

The sound disturbed the peace and startled him. It had only been a few seconds of silence, but it seemed like an eternity.

"Ya.." he managed to force out. He took one last look at Tez before slowly walking away to aid Kira. He took the big battery she needed help with and plopped it down in the trunk, before rushing to the front.

"Hey, do you know where the keys are?" he asked, now positioned in the driver's seat, eagerly looking around for something to start the vehicle. He desperately wanted to get his injured and very ill friend to whatever help he could, and Kira, who was now in the back seat tending care to Tez, was thinking the same thing. She was gently brushing the back of her fingers over his forehead and positioning his head comfortably when she looked up.

"They should be in that small pouch in the passenger's seat"  
Koda grabbed the bag and began rummaging around swiftly for the keys.

"Are you sure you know how to drive this thing? She asked as he pulled out the keys. He took one quick glance back at her before putting the keys in the ignition. He turned the key forward and stared at the gauges, expecting everything to come to life. Nothing happened. He let off of the key and turned it forward again, and again nothing. No sounds, no movement, and not even a click. _Is the battery dead?_ He wondered as his heart rate began to creep faster.

"Do you have the clutch in?" asked Kira as she watched Koda unsuccessfully try to start the vehicle.

"Uh.." He looked down at the pedals and found the third pedal on the left, and stepped in on it. He tried turning the key, and this time, the engine growled to life. He turned his head and body to face the rear, and looked out the window. The vehicle appeared to roll backward smoothly, but as it all started to seem like they were going to get out of the woods, the vehicle soon began to shudder and then quickly come to a jerking halt, along with the engine.

"Do you even know how to drive standard?" Kira asked, looking at him with a low brow. He started the engine back up and then moved the gear shifter around, causing some grinding noises from outside of the vehicle. He managed to get it back into reverse, before unsuccessfully killing it again. Kira let out a sigh and looked back down at Tez. She couldn't wait any longer.

"Do I have to do everything?" She began to climb over the center console and into the driver's seat, forcing Koda to open the door and climb out. He ran around to the other side of the vehicle and began to open the door when Kira snapped back at him. "No. get in the back with Tez."

_Man!,_ he thought as he climbed in to the back seat. S_he's just like Tez_.

Kira scooted the seat closer to the steering wheel and started the vehicle. She put the emergency brake down and started backwards smoothly out of the tree line, turning the vehicle in the direction to head back to the main road. _Whoops_.. Koda thought as his face got hot. _Forgot about the parking brake_. Kira proceeded down the road they had come down once before. Looking at the trail ahead, she realized how rough the terrain was that she would have to ford and popped the transfer case into four wheel drive. The road was full of large holes, pits, and water filled mud holes, as well as small boulders. She realized why Tez had chosen this road. No person would have been able to reach them without the proper equipment. They finally got back onto the main road, and she began to quickly speed her way down the freeway.

"So… what's wrong with him?" Koda asked from the back seat.

"I don't know.. I woke up, and he was coughing and gagging outside. I tried to ask him what happened and all he did was throw up some more. I tried to help him, and that's when he passed out cold. His temperature was through the roof, and he was shivering all over."

"Damn.." He said as he looked down at him. He grabbed the water from the trunk and a small hand rag. He poured the water on it and laid it on his forehead, which was still burning hot. His breathing was shallow, and when Koda felt his pulse it was weak and quick.

"I don't know what to do with him." spoke Kira. "All I know is we need to get him to someone quick."

"Where's the nearest city?"

"Last sign I saw said about 40 klicks. We're really close to getting to that base you were talking about."

Koda rest his head on the headrest behind him let out long sigh. He was frustrated at all that was happening; about how he could do nothing about it. The only thing he could do now was try and release the stress that, so far, had its grip on him since they destroyed those buildings. Nothing was headed in the right direction. The government had been nearly destroyed and had taken with it the man who ran it all. With only 1/3rd of their government left, the East was all in shambles, and would take years of rebuilding to even get close to what it was just hours before the attack. And now they are fleeing from his own home of Little Wing in a vehicle, in the middle of nowhere, with his best friend slowly dieing at his side. He began to slam his head into the back of his headrest a few times and breathe heavily through his teeth. In his sadness and frustration, he had made Kira uneasy, and the mood soon became an uncomfortable one as they drove along. His eyes began to water, but he held it all back, and the ticking seconds of silence between the two started to become unbearable. He watched as Kira reached up and turned the rear view mirror in a different direction. He heard the ever somber sound of sobbing as they drove along, and saw the ever occasional arm movement to wipe the tears from her face. After a short but seemly eternally lasting silence, Koda asked her if she was okay. She sniffled and attempted to shun her emotions away, eventually muttering out a few words.

"I think so.."

"Everything is going to be fine.." He said, and felt the only feeling you feel when you lie to someone. "Everything will be fine after we get there. The military will know what to do, and we'll all be safe soon."

There was nothing that could keep Kira from knowing what he was trying to hide. She knew anything he said was a long shot, but that was all she could hope for at this point. The rest of the drive was a cold somber one. Koda monitored Tez for the rest of the time, and Kira spent her time getting to where they needed to go. About halfway into the drive, Tez seemed to become somewhat cohesive, but went back into a state of unconsciousness. It wasn't until within the few moments before they arrived that he became coherent enough to begin talking. At first, he began to stir as he did previously; which attracted Koda's attention.

"Kira, he's moving again"

A sensation shot through her body as if she had a sort of cold chill. Only it was a very hot feeling and her heart began to speed. She turned her attention to the back as she saw him try and help himself up.

"Tez!" She said in some sort of attempt to try and tell him to take it slow. Fortunately, she didn't have to say anymore, because Koda took over that role.

"Whoa bud! Easy now." he warned as he tried to help him up into a seating position. "You've been through quite a bit. It's time to take it slow."

Tez had the worst feeling he has felt in his life. He was extremely hot and lightheaded. His head felt as if there was a small weight pressing down upon it. Every little noise around him was very loud, and there was a ringing in his ears, symptomatic to severe tinnitus. Koda's voice seemed ear piercing. It seemed like he was spinning, but nothing appeared like it was, and the headliner of the vehicle looked like it was constantly morphing, and slowly zooming in and out. Everything was so surreal, as if he really was caught in some wild dream. But it wasn't a dream, and as he leaned his cheek against the cool glass of the window beside him, Kira let out a word of caution as they approached a road which had been fenced off with prison like security measures. Two very bright spotlights hit the windshield as the vehicle came to a rolling stop, and she immediately shielded her eyes from the blinding light. Koda held an arm up as well, and tried to see what it was that was going on.

"Get out of the vehicle!" Blared a voice from Kira's window. A masked figure had her at gunpoint as a swarm of other heavily armed figures like him began to surround them. "Exit the vehicle now or we will be forced to fire upon you!" blared another voice. Their chatter slurred together into a mass of orders which told them to get out of the vehicle and get on the ground.

"Unlock the door and exit with both hands open and in the air where we can see them!" The door rattled as the figure attempted to cause the door to become ajar.

Tez didn't move. He didn't really care what was going on, and despite the fact that he and his friends could be in serious danger, his mind and body were just too out of it to feel like doing anything. It felt so strange and surreal, he wasn't sure that what he was seeing was actually happening. He watched as Kira slowly reached over and unlocked the door, and it took a bit of time to realize exactly what was happening. The door was yanked open and Kira was dragged out of the vehicle. Tez felt his head fall. His head's weight was no longer being supported by the window, and he felt the slap of two hands as they grabbed him. He was dragged to the ground, which made him feel more sick as his head was pushed down, planting his face in the dirt. Koda was wrestled to the dirt, and felt the hands which had thrown him to the ground begin to pat him down, taking all of his belongings; including the tube that carried several personal papers. While they were pinned to the ground, several of the armed and masked men began confiscating things out of the Jeep, along with Tez's two bags.

"Hey Thomas, check this out." one of them said, tossing the larger of the two bags.

"Well shit. This bastard's got a whole truckload in here. Seems like they were getting ready for Armageddon or something. It must be this girl's stuff here" corporal Thomas said, gesturing in Kira's direction.

"Hey marshal, check this out"

"Hey! What are you doing with all of our stuff!" yelled Kira, who had just gotten all of her belongings seized.

Tez watched as the man who had last spoken kneel down next to her, and began to inaudibly whisper into her ear. It was nearly unbearable to watch. But the tension somewhat loosened when the corporal stood back up and began to seemingly forget about her, and began to rummage through Tez's belongings. Several items were confiscated, and then handed to an adjacent masked man, who inspected the items. They were then relayed to another masked figure who put the items into a large burlap sack or bag of some sort. He couldn't tell what was exactly being put in, but by their general shape, appeared to be anything that wasn't papers or information. The Corporal then proceeded to speak into something attached to his shirt collar, before then standing before the others around him.

"Alright men, everything looks good here. Jason, I want you and Gerhardt to clean up this mess and check the perimeter. Freez and Kohlre will escort these three into the duster and then take them back to CZ for C.I.D. check. I'll take Thompson down with this C-Vehicle and show him the signage and lockdown procedures. Ea-aigh-ea-aigh?

Each of them showed a quick hand gesture before taking out their orders as instructed. The Corporal and another masked man climbed up into Tez's Jeep and drove off just as Tez felt something grab him, hoisting him up.

"Come on buddy, it's alright. We're just going to take you down to get checked out." One of them explained. They let him have some room to walk, but held him firmly by the arms and escorted him to a heavily armed vehicle. His friends had already been escorted and forced in, and he zombied his way into one of the seats, where he was locked in next to Koda and Kira. Inside of the vehicle was a steel guard separating them from the front seats. Inside was very plain, yet it had a very clean appearance to it. Tez looked at the dash, which was filled with knobs and gauges. It looked odd in contrast to the rest of it, which was mostly exposed metal.

"Hey.. HEY! Where are you taking us! Koda exclaimed furiously.

The drive looked back slowly, his eyes striking fear in anyone who looked at them.

"Relax" He said coolly. "We're gonna take you down to get checked in"

"What did you do with all of our stuff?" Koda replied with an angry banter.

"Receiving… The rest is classified, so I can't tell you much more" He shifted into gear. "So If you're done with this job interview, I'll make my way to the CZ now" He said smugly, and the vehicle started to move.

"Are you guys Military?" 

The driver and co-pilot glanced at each other before the co-pilot explained.

"No. We stole these vehicles, got all dressed up in holiday costumes and armed ourselves with all sorts of guns"

Koda folded his arms. "Typical smart-ass bastards" he said under his breath. Tez and Kira heard his comment, and both looked each other in synchronization, realizing how ironic it was that such a comment would come from someone smart-assed as well. The driver spun the vehicle around and faced the gate, which opened up to reveal a long stretch of dirt road. As they traveled farther ahead, they passed through numerous checkpoints before reaching a huge metal wall. Within the wall contained a solid metal gate, and appeared to be a reinforced alloy. The gate was laden with deep red lighting on all corners, and was a deep metallic color. The vehicle was once again met with a numerous amount of masked soldiers. They were easily cleared to drive through, and were anxiously awaiting for an opening to drive through. Instead of a quick exit, they sat in silence and stared at the gate, with the only sound coming from the chugging of the engine. They watched as dust flew through the now amber sky as the wind picked up. Without warning, a deep loud boom thundered through the cabin of the vehicle, feeling like a fist to the chest. The gates were loud, slow to open, and particularly thick. Nearly a meter thick, they were reinforced by titanium rivets, and welds so thick they seemed almost inane. The doors of the gate slammed fully open with a deep rumble, allowing them to proceed forward into the freshly made opening. Behind the gate was an array of buildings, a few Tediz, and tents lining the wide and vast landscape. The driver turned and they arrived at a rather small building, embedded with a glass door and a few windows. As soon as the vehicle came to a halt, the doors were ripped open and they were once again dragged out. The air temperature outside had dropped dramatically, and heavy dark clouds filled the sky. The air was difficult to breathe in, and was heavy with moisture. The air felt particularly cool to Tez, as if ice cubes were bombarding him. The three were taken out, but Tez was picked up and forced back in by an official, causing an outcry from his friends.

"What the!" Koda burst "what the hell are you doing?"

The Soldiers ignored their every question, and every beckoning request as they dragged them towards the small building in silence, disregarding any pleas promising that they would not leave their friend. Tez tried effortlessly to escape from their grasp, but his injuries had caught up with him. He was much too weak, mentally and physically, to move on.

"So what's going to happen to me?" he asked weakly as he lay in the back seat. There was no response from the soldiers, and they sped off in the vehicle. The ride was bumpy, and it began to precipitate. The raindrops grew bigger and hit harder with each passing second, intensifying the ringing in his ears. The rain now sounded like the roar of a waterfall as they arrived at another building, this one much vaster than the last one. This time, he was hoisted onto a padded stretcher, where the cold, yet soothing surface felt relaxing as it supported him. As they wheeled him in, he watched a blurry white light flash with each passing second. A few people with crosses on their jackets appeared with syringes, and he watched one of them hold it upright, and squirt some of the dark fluid out. He was then wheeled into a room and into a mess of curtains, where he heard the groans of what should be people adjacent to him. He felt his face go numb as a needle sprayed some fluids onto his head. The bandage was lifted off of his head, which was completely soaked with blood, and tossed aside. Another syringe with three tubes was filled with yellow fluid, and reflected a painful bright light into his eyes off of its three needles. The two other tubes in the syringe were filled with two other translucent fluids, and the needles were pierced into his arm. It sent a shockwave of tingling throughout his arm, and a separate third syringe was thrust into his other arm. The room began to become distorted. A weird handheld device was pointed at his head and began making various whirring and clicking noises. He felt the pain in his head melt away, and he no longer felt the throbbing pressure that had been pulsating since yesterday. As the room became static and began to get darker, he thought of how nice it was to just lay there; just lay there and forget the world.

Mud from the ground splashed into the air as the rain flew up from the cooling ground. The drops of rain were huge, and they stung. An aerial view from a sentry tower showed eight figures braving the rainstorm. A puddle began to split when a foot began to skid through. Koda began a struggle in the wet dirt as he and Kira were dragged towards a light-brown brick building. He felt the tight grip of an arm around his neck, and looked over towards Kira. She was in a tight headlock, and was struggling to move forward. Koda looked ahead at the two other Tediz also being dragged to the building, which was difficult to attain as he struggled to walk onward. They looked just as frightened as he was. His backtalk had stopped not long after he was separated from Tez, when he realized this whole situation was much more complex than he thought. And with Tez's whereabouts still fresh in his mind, he knew Kira had to be thinking about the same thing. The only thing that he could hope for was that Tez was in a better position than they were. The headlock was uncomfortable and painfully pinched his neck. Koda's footing slipped as he tried to pull away, and he felt the slush of mud beneath his feet. His hair was now soaked in mud and water, and he felt a sharp pain in his side as he went down.

"Grahh" he growled. An arch of blue met him in the side, and electric shock ripped through his body.

_Why are they doing this? _Kira thought as she watched the black soldier pull the taser away from his body. Kira was essentially frozen in her position. She was in a state of confusion as she watched her friend go limp in front of her. The soldier tugged at her to move, but she wouldn't budge. A taser hit her in the back, and she was soon finding herself in a momentary state of extreme pain, as if every muscle on her body was being pressed onto a hot frying pan. She wanted to scream, but her teeth just clinched together as she growled until the searing sensation had stopped. 

Koda still tried to put up a fight, but was weakened by the electro shock that had just been administered to his body, and came to a mental conclusion that his best interest would be to follow the Soldier dragging him. As soon they were through the doors of the building the soldiers tossed the four of them onto the ground. Koda tried to look up at the plain hallway, when he saw one of the two Tediz who were thrown in the room with them try and make a run for it. He got up and ran; ran like something dark and sinister was chasing after him. He made what appeared to be four or five steps forward when a loud crack stopped him in his tracks. A numbness filled Koda as he watched the deeply colored blood from the Tedi coat the white wall to his left. Tears filled Kira's eyes as she lay curled up on the ground in shock while she heard the nasty, audible thud of the body slamming onto the tile flooring. As the blood began to pool on the ground, a voice screamed out like a bat out of hell.

"Don't you EVER try and run from me!" screamed a battered looking Tedi in uniform. He stood in the corner of the right wall. "Those greenies might not have it in them to kill you, but I DO!" He yelled while turning his attention to the 3 lying on the floor. He took one look at Koda, who was still staring at the body lying lifeless on the floor, and immediately walked over to him with his finger on the trigger of his pistol. Koda's body quickly froze when he heard the metallic clink of something evil near his head. A cold object rest itself on his head as he stayed frozen in position. "You listen to me." He said, and then looked at the remaining people in the room. "ALL OF YOU!" he demanded while he pushed the gun into Koda's head, causing him to tense up even more.

Warm, silent tears slowly rolled out of Kira's eyes as everything around her seemed to slow down. Her eyes fixated on the weapon whose end rest upon the head of a great friend of hers. Tez was missing, and nowhere to be found right now. And now the next fondest person to her was a trigger pull away from being gone forever. Between now and the next words that were to come from the battered looking Tedi, a silence came over the room. The only thing that could be heard was the quiet sobs of loneliness that came from Kira's body. "The world is an entirely different place now. Your leader is gone, your government, dead. You will follow my words, or YOU, will be dead TOO!" Spoke the rough looking Tedi. "Get up!" he yelled at Koda, pushing the gun once again into the side of his head. Koda began to obey his command slowly when he felt the grip of a hand pull him into a standing position, where he nearly lost his footing but was firmly held by the Tedi's grasp. "Get moving!" he said as he tossed Koda forward. Koda ran to try and keep his balance, but his feet became tangled beneath him. He fell to the ground, only to land halfway on the lifeless body he had been staring at seconds before. He hit the ground hard, slamming his shoulder into the tile floor, getting some blood on himself in the process. Fighting back tears of pain and the feeling of nauseousness, he quickly got back up awaiting commands from what seemed like a puppet master. "What are you two staring at!" he directed towards Kira and the other Tedi who were still on the cold floor. They both got on their feet, and were pushed ahead by the man holding them at gunpoint. They walked alone in silence; hoping, thinking, praying, that this wouldn't be the last day that they walked alone.


	4. Ch 4 Welcome to Reality

**Author's Notes -  
**

**I apologize to anyone who has read this and has been waiting for new content. I have not forgotten you. There was a big hiatus from writing as I got things together, but new content should be coming soon. Please, if you notice any typos or errors please let me know. It's hard to proof read everything alone. Thanks for reading :)  
**

**Chapter 4: Welcome to Reality**

"Is this the one?" A masculine voice floated through the air.

"Yes, I believe so" said another voice.

Tez cracked his eye open to a dimly lit room. Cool white sheets came into view along with the edge of the bed. Light flooded one space of the dark room, which hit the wall to the right of Tez. He felt pretty drowsy, and it didn't really dawn on him for a second where he was. His mind meandered along aimlessly until it finally processed the information. His eyes popped open, and his pulse began to rise. _What the crap!? _He thought, before quickly lifting himself up to see where he was. He felt the slight tug of the wires that were taped around parts of his body. The analysis machine moved on its wheels slightly from the tug of the wires. He looked up to see a doctor and a high ranking military officer speaking to each other near the open door. He began thinking to himself, trying to figure out how he got here and what had happened before. He thought of Kira and Koda, trying to think about where they were, and what he was doing in this strange environment.

"Ah, he's awake" said the doctor, who turned his head slightly to the bed when he noticed Tez move in the corner of his eye.

Tez looked at both of them in wonder. He wanted to speak, he wanted to ask them hundreds of questions, but found himself in an awkward trance; He was awestruck and confused.

"Send him to the G-Ward when you're done with whatever the hell it is you do. We need him and the rest of these pieces as soon as we can." said the officer. The doctor returned a quick salute to the man before he stormed out of the door. Once the officer was gone, he turned his attention to Tez, who appeared to be the only one in the room who wasn't at rest.

"You look scared… Am I scary to you?" He said in a slow, eerie voice.

_What the… _Tez thought to himself. He indeed was scared. Wires were attached to him, he was in a strange place and he has some guy creeping in on him, with cutting tools lining his coat. Why wouldn't he be scared?

"Well you should be afraid" He continued, slowly making his way to Tez; his shoes making an echo in the room with each footstep. "But not of me." He said looking at Tez. He walked over a few feet to the side of the bed, and then pulled over a chair. He sat himself down in it and grabbed a folder from the table next to him. Tez became even more confused. _These guys are nuts…_He thought, watching the doctor thumb through the folder of papers.

"So uh… I… um" Tez said to him, breaking the chain of awkward silence; It was weird hearing his own voice.

"Your wanting to know what you are doing here. You also would like to know who I am, and what that machine is doing that is attached to you… No?" The doctor thumbed through some more of the papers. After a brief silence with Tez's glossy eyes staring at this strange fellow in the room with him, the silence was again broken.

"I am Dr. Crane. I see that your laceration is healing up nicely. The new medgun does a nice job at stopping the bleeding."

Tez felt the top of his head, and felt the cool touch of metal. They had stitched up the wound with a thick alloy, and he felt no pain from the area. He looked sternly at the doctor, thinking about what to say, and how to say it.

"So where are Kira and Koda?" he said finally. His voice sounded weak and raspy as he spoke.

"You're talking about the other two aren't you? They will be taken care of soon enough. They'll be put into a section as soon as we know their information. No need to worry as of now."

"what's going on? Who were those guys who took our stuff?"

The doctor let out a sigh. "Let me just fill you in on what has been going on here. We had an attack earlier yesterday while we were escorting civilians in. It turned out to be a trap." The doctor turned a stern look on his face. "Trojan horse of sorts. Blasted thing had SHC in the back. Of course the windows were tinted so we couldn't see. Two Tediz were with them in front. They turned against us and killed 3 of our men."

"Crane" said the man who had previously been in the room.

"Yes Chamberlain. What is it?"

"The new HLN has been appointed. I've been ordered now to change a lot of things. The first is your position."

"What?"

"You and this new cadet will have to come with me. Everything has changed"

"cadet?" said Tez.

"I'll be with you right away sir." Responded Dr. Crane. He swooped around the bed and began disconnecting the wires that were hooked to Tez off of his body.

"Woah, wait a minute! Who said anything about a Cadet!?"

"I'd explain it to you but you'll found out soon enough, so just get off of your ass and follow me if you don't want to die" Crane said as he ripped off the last patch.

Tez had followed Dr. Crane and Chamberlain and they were now walking down a dim hallway. As they walked on through they eventually arrived at a metal door whith rust seeping out of the edges. Chamberlain grabbed ahold of the rusty handle and forced open the door, and cool night air blasted them in the face. Tez walked out into the starry night, which was brightly lit from a full moon. He only looked for a second though, because the others were moving along quickly. They entered a large building across the open property, which was lit brightly by white walls and white polished flooring. After walking up what seemed millions of stairs, they entered a room. The room was dark, and was very dead of sound. Tez could hear his own ears ringing in the place. As he crossed the plane of the doorway, warm, soothing air hit him in the head. The room was very warm, but it was a nice feeling, as though you had just walked inside a warm house after staying outside in the winter. A fireplace burned at the back of the room, which made everything in the room glow in an orange hue. The crackling from the fire was the only thing that could be heard to one's ear. A man sat behind a big wooden desk, with two other men at his sides.

"General." Chamberlain said, as he saluted the man at the desk.

The man leaned back in his chair, fingers together as he slowly rocked back and forth. "The elevator is working you know" He said to chamberlain.

Heavily breathing Tez gave Chamberlain a long stern look as they continued on with their conversation.

Chamberlain smiled and gave him a small chuckle.

"I wanted to give our new boys some freedom to move around. Seems to me like they've been stuck inside for a while… 'could use some exercise"

The General expressed a silent chuckle.

"I guess it is now my duty to explain to Dr. Crane what his new assignment is" He turned his eyes in the direction of Dr. Crane, pausing before making his speech. "Crane, with the latest news of the new HLN, and the new upcoming siege that is inevitable, you will be appointed to our newest squad, Team Beta-Gamma as the Head of Clerical Operations. Your main objective will be to educate the new soldiers on survival gear and various survival techniques."

Crane stood tall and gave the General a silent salute.

"And you, the grab-asstic piece of civilian shit." pointed the General. Tez broke his stare at Chamberlain and looked toward the General. "I surely hope you don't get all googly eyed at your commanding "O" when he makes you run until your heart explodes. I can guarantee that you'll get more lead than you wanted down that throat of yours" smirked the general.

"I just want to know what the hell is going on" Tez said coolly.

"Crane, I've found your first victim." said the general, ignoring Tez's remark. "You can explain to him later what's going on. For now, I want you to get out of here and get things ready. Chamberlain, continue with your business with Halstaque. You are both Dismissed".

Both Crane and Chamberlain gave the General a firm salute before Chamberlain split from the three and walked back down the stairs.

"We can take the elevator" Crane explained as he and Tez walked down a clean hallway, decorated with marble flooring and green potted plants. Crane swiped a white card downward in front of a grey pad, and the red arrow that pointed down lit up.

"Thanks, I don't know why we walked all of those stairs."

"Well, you're in for something else, because that was nothing"

"What?"

Crane picked the lowest floor possible, 18, and spoke as the doors closed.

"As I was explaining earlier before I was interrupted, we had an attack earlier by Trojan Horse, which is why you and your buddies were forcefully taken in."

"But what's this talk about the squad and all that?"

Crane held up a finger to silence Tez "That's what I was trying to get at before getting interrupted yet again. Because of the lack of the huge siege that is expected, I've been "Promoted" to teach a squad how to live once they've gotten an injury on the battlefield. The hard truth is… everyone is going to be involved in this war; you, me, and your friends. And not just figuratively; everyone who enters a refuge or base will be instantaneously signed up to fight in this war"

"Wait, you're saying I'm going to be a walking Tediz military 'drone'?"

"You and everyone else in this world, as per the new HLN. He's changing everything, and people are buying into it."

"What exactly has he changed? And what if I don't want to fight in this war?"

Crane took a silent stare at Tez. "If you don't want to fight in this war"

Tez looked at him straight in the eyes and nodded. Crane looked back and continued.

"You will be shot."

The elevator doors opened and crane led his way out and into the next elevator, where he chose floor number 1. Tez walked in as the doors closed behind them.

"As far as change goes" continued crane "The new HLN is planning a full on takeover of all SHC not only on Doon, but in the galaxy as well. He's boasting that what the SHC have done is unforgivable, and they shall forever be exiled from our territories."

Tez took a long hard think at this. _We've been at peace for 200 years _he thought. It was a notion he didn't want to forgive. It was because of those SHC bastards that caused all of this mess. Little Wing gone in mere seconds. People dying, being killed all around him. But did he really want all of this? Not all of the SHC were bad. In fact, most of them were nice people. But, the new HLN was being a bit radical he thought, especially with the way his own civilians were being treated.

"And the new HLN is very strict on traitors" Said crane. "He's already demanded that anyone who disobeys orders or commands issued to the public will be considered traitors and be dealt with very very strict punishment.

The ding of the elevator met them at the bottom floor. He and Crane exited and the doors shut behind them.

"Well, I really must be going. You are to meet over at the CZ building and get ready for your first meeting with the Team Leader. I've got some business to tend to" Crane said as he walked off in one direction.

"Wait! What building do I go to?"

"It's a brick building. You can't miss it. It's across the depot and has glass doors."

In an instant, Crane was gone, and Tez was left alone to fend for himself. He looked behind him at the hallway, which looked just like the one on the left that crane just walked and turned at. He decided to go to the right, and follow that path. He walked into a few wrong rooms that looked like conference rooms and finally found his way outside. The night was cold, with the steaming breath of tez evaporating into the thick and heavy air. The big moon lit up the bright sky with its whitish blue glow. Tez walked along side of the long building he just exited, looking for this brick building Crane talked about. In the midst of his wandering Tez heard a voice yell out at him.

"Hey!"

Tez froze mid step, and a chill ran down his spine. A sentry gaurd had spotted him and was swiftly approaching him with his weapon at his shoulder.

"What are you doing out near the A-list building at this late at night. Civilians are to stay indoors until dawn breaks."

"I was try.."

"Did I say you could speak?" Interrupted the gaurdsman. "I'll have you know, the penalty for trespassing after lock hours is never taken lightly."

"Chaimberlain told me to find the CZ building" Tez quickly spit out. It was a slight lie to hopefully get his point across.

"Hey, what did I say about speaking?" The gaurd was interrupted when another body grabbed him by the shoulder and yanked him around.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I... I was.."

"You can't just threaten people all the time like your some big hot shot officer or something like that. Do you realize.."

Tez slowly moved into a comfortable position as the two argued to each other for a brief moment before the 2nd guard finally shut up the first one and spoke to Tez.

"What are you doing out here this late." The ground crinkled under his feet from the cold.

"I was trying to find the C.Z. building. Chamberlain told me to find it."

"Chamberlain? I see.. The C.Z. Building is not far from here, just 2 blocks north." He paused and looked at the other soldier, who gave him a nod. He held an electronic device in his ear and spoke to a pin on his left shoulder. "Alpha-Mike this is forty-two lima. tango 12 has a lonely at A-list. Moving lonely to designated escort zone at C.Z. and will relay as soon as target is acquired. Copy." There was a slight pause before he glanced a quick nod and turned his attention back to Tez.

"We'll escort you there so we're sure that there's no funny business going around."

Tez walked along side the soldiers, who's black attire was as intimidating as any. There was an awkward silence as they trudged along, with only the sound of their footsteps in the cold dirt to accompany them.

At last, a brick building came into sight. The rain from earlier left the ground between this building and the one before it very muddy. Tez walked around puddles and mud holes as he made his way to the building with the soldiers, careful not to get wet. Footprints and large marks were left in areas that were starting to dry. There were some areas where it looked as if people had slipped and fell trying to walk across it, and fell again as someone tried to help them up. They wiped their feet before entering the glass doors to the brick building. Once inside, some boring jingly music played over the loudspeakers, and a Tedi was inside running a floor buffer.

"Sorry mate, but we're passing through" said the 2nd soldier.

The "janitor" tedi seemed to just shrug it off, and began cleaning up the mud they were tracking in. They soon reached a pair of swinging doors that led to a Counter with a group of people standing behind it.

The first soldier walked up to the counter, and motioned with his hand to the first person at the counter with one finger, then three, and then with a thumbs up, left with the second soldier out a second pair of doors.

"Name?" A lady stood behind the counter looking up at him.

"Tezeriah"

"Nickname?"

"Tez"

"Fill out this sheet of information and move down to line 2. Be quick about it. It's getting late."

Tez filled out the sheet which was basically asking something they could have easily shown them had they not taken all his possessions from him, including his forms of Identification. He handed in the clipboard and sheet of paper and was told to move down to line 2, which he was met by someone with a stack of drab and boring clothing. All the same color and sorted by size.

"Here are your learner's fatigues. Be sure to take care of them." said the person behind the counter, and pushed a rather ugly looking burlap sack towards him.

"Thanks.." said tez glumly.

"Follow the man at line 3. He will show you to your bunk."

Tez followed yet another stranger towards a dimly lit, long hallway. He was ready to get the night over with, and was hoping that tomorrow would be a fresh start. _like that will ever happen_. He thought.

As they walked slowly down the halfway lit walkway Tez thought of what might come ahead tomorrow. Whether he'd see his friends, and what other strangers he might have to endure. They walked onward in silence through two big double doors. The double doors swung open, and shut with a loud thud; echoing throughout the lonely hallway.


End file.
